An ill-placed "prayer for marriage," distributed by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to all parishes a year ago, caused a kerfuffle Tuesday, Nov. 6, at a West St. Paul church after it was seen within a few yards of the voting site inside.

An early-morning voter snapped a picture of the prayer, which supported marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and posted it on a social media website. The voter was at St. Joseph's Catholic Church off Butler Avenue.

The letter-style prayer, posted in a display case, was removed within a couple hours of it being seen, said both an Archdiocese spokesman and a county election official.

"The fact that it was up in this location was a simple oversight," said Jim Accurso, spokesman for the Archdiocese.

Andy Lokken, manager of elections and vital statistics for Dakota County, said the county received at least one complaint about the paper, which prompted the city to make sure it was removed.

"Little things like that aren't going to invalidate the election in that precinct," Lokken said.

Rhea Nyquist, one of the site's head election judges, said the city called her husband at their home soon after the polls opened, telling him about the posting. She said he drove to the church to tell her about it.

The church had already removed it from the hallway outside the voting area.

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She and election officials did find a kiosk about 92 feet away from the polls that contained a flier about marriage being between a man and a woman and moved it more than 100 feet away, as dictated by election law.

She said election judges also removed a "Vote Yes: Marriage, one man, one woman" yard sign from the church grounds before voters showed up Tuesday.